(MENAFN) North Korea’s state media has sharply criticized the recent US approval for South Korea to develop nuclear-powered attack submarines, calling it a “declaration of confrontation.”

According to a Korean news agency on Tuesday, the White House fact sheet released after last month’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shows that Washington is pursuing policies of hostility and nuclear escalation toward Pyongyang. KCNA argued that allowing South Korea to possess nuclear submarines, enrich uranium, and reprocess spent fuel lays the groundwork for North Korea to emerge as a “quasi-nuclear power.”

This marks Pyongyang’s first reaction to the joint US-South Korea document issued last Friday, denouncing it as a step toward “open confrontation.”

In response, South Korea’s presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung stressed that Seoul has no hostile intent and remains committed to reducing tensions and rebuilding trust between the Koreas.

During his South Korea visit, Trump said the US would share nuclear propulsion technologies, enabling Seoul to construct at least one nuclear-powered submarine. South Korea’s Defense Ministry later announced plans to build a domestically developed nuclear submarine by the mid-to-late 2030s.

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